Saints Earn Overtime Win Over Pratt

The Seward County Saints were playing for pride Wednesday night as they took on fellow 3-14 Pratt in the Greenhouse on Hispanic Heritage Night. After trailing by two at the half, the Saints came back and knotted the score at the end of regulation before outscoring the Beavers 12-7 in the overtime period to snap a six game losing streak with a 93-88 victory.

Early on, it was an up and down contest as expected between the Saints and Beavers with Pratt leading it by two 5:00 in at 13-11. Eventually the Beavers stretched their lead to 20-11 with 12:57 to go in the half, but the Saints made a run of their own on the back of Kevin Sims, getting five straight from the sophomore guard to cut the Pratt lead to just two with 8:43 to go at 22-20. A Pratt three with 5:13 remaining in the half once again stretched the Beaver lead to eight at 31-23, but once again the Saints showed some resiliency, battling back to get to within two before the break as the teams went to the half with the score Pratt 37 and Seward 35.

Pratt shot 55% in the first half, but were hampered by 13 turnovers in the period while Seward shot just 39% but got off four more field goal attempts than the Beavers because of just five first half turnovers. Sims led Seward with 10 first half points while the man that he is battling for the Jayhawk scoring title, Devon Andrews, scoring 15 first half points for Pratt.

The Saints quickly tied the game up as the second half began on a drive and score from Pierre Johnson and a three moments later from Tre Kidd put the Saints up one 42-41. Pratt retook the lead 45-44 with 16:36 to go, but a 13-2 Seward run over the next 2:13 turned a one point deficit into their largest lead of the night at 57-47. Pratt worked the Seward lead back down to four with 11:58 remaining when Sims connected on his third three of the half to make it 62-55 Seward. Pratt made a push to the second half media timeout to again dice the Seward lead down to just three at 64-61, but again, the Saints got a big play on an answer from Spencer Franklin to make it a two possession game once again at 67-61. Andrews put the Beavers on his back over the next four minutes, erasing the Saints lead and giving the Beavers a two point lead of their own at 76-74 after scoring 10 straight for the guys in blue. The Saints remained down by two with 2:14 to go when Sims slashed to the basket and scored with ease to knot the score at 79. Sims scored again on the Saints next possession to put Seward up by a deuce, but the Beavers scored on a third chance opportunity with 26 seconds to go to tie the score up once again at 81. Seward had a chance for the final shot of the game to win it in regulation, but a three pointer sailed wide with 1.3 seconds left on the clock and that sent the game to overtime deadlocked at 81.

With both teams sucking for air in the overtime, neither team could muster much offense with Seward getting their first points 2:37 in and Pratt putting their first field goal on the board 2:52 in to keep the score tied at 83. Pratt jumped in front by two with a basket, but Charles Beauregard and the Saints answered to tie it back up at 85 with 2:01 to go. Seward took a one point lead on another Sims hoop with 1:12 to go and took a three point lead as big man Martavious Wilson scored in the lane with 34 seconds to go. Pratt answered with a quick drive and score on their next possession but unthinkably were called for a technical foul after the basket to give the Saints a pair of free throws. Seward cashed in on one of two to make it a two point game and came up with a huge stop on the Beavers next trip down the court and again made one of two at the line after a Pratt foul to put themselves up three with 12 seconds remaining. Pratt got two looks at the rim to tie it, but the Saints again dug their feet in and picked up a stop and secured the rebound, sinking a pair of free throws on their ensuing possession to ice the game away as they painted the Greenhouse green and white with a 93-88 win.

The Saints shot just 42% on the night, but outscored Pratt by five at the free throw line and committed just seven turnovers to hold on for the win. Sims led the Saints with 31 in the victory while Beauregard added 16 and Franklin went for 11 points and 7 boards.

Seward snaps a six game losing streak to move to 7-15 overall and 4-14 in Jayhawk action with the win while Pratt takes over the cellar by themselves as they drop to 5-16 overall and 3-15 in league play.

The Saints will look to keep their momentum rolling on Saturday night in the Greenhouse when they host the Cowley Tigers in an 8:00 tip. Free tickets are available courtesy of our buyout sponsor Wendy’s at their Liberal location.

SEWARD COUNTY/PRATT BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/boxscores/20170201_l5so.xml>

Roy Allen